Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the friendship, support, and
cooperation of the residents of Superior. We would like to express
special gratitude to the following:
City Council
Mayor Rick Disney, Rodney Rogers, Sandra Foote, Trenton Morris, Craig
Hale, Levi Gunn, and Darrell Brandt.
Planning Commission
Chairperson Kim Young, Vice Chairperson Carl Suchsland, Theresa
Erickson, Emily Kirchhoff, Logan Christiancy, Angela Henderson, Jim
Mitchell, and Calvin Hayes.
City Administration
City Administrator Andrew Brittenham, City Attorney John Hodge, and
City Clerk Brenda Corman.
Context
Responsibility to Plan
Per
Nebraska
Revised Statutes (NRS) 19-901(1), municipal governments in Nebraska
are granted the authority to regulate land use within their
jurisdiction:
For the purpose of promoting health, safety, morals, or the general
welfare of the community, the city council of a city of the first class
or city of the second class or the village board of trustees of a
village may adopt zoning regulations which regulate and restrict the
height, number of stories, and size of buildings and other structures,
the percentage of lots that may be occupied, the size of yards, courts,
and other open spaces, the density of population, and the location and
use of buildings, structures, and land for trade, industry, residence,
or other purposes.
Authority to Plan
NRS 19-901(2) explains that zoning regulations may not be adopted
until a comprehensive plan has been completed, recommended by the
Planning Commission, and adopted by the City Council or Village Board of
Trustees:
Such powers shall be exercised only after the city council or village
board of trustees has established a planning commission, received from
its planning commission a recommended comprehensive development plan as
defined in section
19-903,
adopted such comprehensive development plan, and received the specific
recommendation of the planning commission on the adoption or amendment
of zoning regulations. The planning commission shall make a preliminary
report and hold public hearings on its recommendations regarding the
adoption or repeal of the comprehensive development plan and zoning
regulations and shall hold public hearings thereon before submitting its
final report to the city council or village board of trustees.
Amendments to the comprehensive plan or zoning regulations shall be
considered at public hearings before submitting recommendations to the
city council or village board of trustees.
A public hearing regarding the recommendation of this Comprehensive
Plan was held by the City of Superior Planning Commission on
[date].
The Planning Commission recommended the adoption of this
Comprehensive Plan on [date].
A public hearing regarding the adoption of this Comprehensive Plan
was held by the City of Superior City Council on
[date].
By approving Ordinance No. [ordinance number], the
City of Superior City Council adopted this Comprehensive Plan on
[date].
Building the Plan
The Superior Plan is organized into chapters based upon the guidance
and requirements listed within
NRS
19-903:
-
A land-use element which designates the proposed general distributions,
general location, and extent of the uses of land for agriculture,
housing, commerce, industry, recreation, education, public buildings and
lands, and other categories of public and private use of land;
-
The general location, character, and extent of existing and proposed
major roads, streets, and highways, and air and other transportation
routes and facilities;
-
The general location, type, capacity, and area served of present and
projected or needed community facilities including recreation
facilities, schools, libraries, other public buildings, and public
utilities and services;
-
When a new comprehensive plan or a full update to an existing
comprehensive plan is developed, an energy element which: Assesses
energy infrastructure and energy use by sector, including residential,
commercial, and industrial sectors; evaluates utilization of renewable
energy sources; and promotes energy conservation measures that benefit
the community. This subdivision shall not apply to villages; and
-
(a) When next amended after January 1, 1995, an identification of
sanitary and improvement districts, subdivisions, industrial tracts,
commercial tracts, and other discrete developed areas which are or in
the future may be appropriate subjects for annexation and (b) a general
review of the standards and qualifications that should be met to enable
the municipality to undertake annexation of such areas. Failure of the
plan to identify subjects for annexation or to set out standards or
qualifications for annexation shall not serve as the basis for any
challenge to the validity of an annexation ordinance.
Jurisdiction of the Plan
Per
NRS
17-1001 (1), the geographical area covered by the City of Superior
Comprehensive Plan includes all land within a one-mile area encompassing
the city, “the extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction of a city shall
consist of the unincorporated area one mile beyond and adjacent to its
corporate boundaries.”
Map 1.1: Superior Municipal Boundary and Extraterritorial
Jurisdiction displays Superior’s corporate boundary and zoning
jurisdiction, which includes all lands within the City of Superior and
its One-Mile Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ). Superior’s land use
policies govern all lands within the city as well as the ETJ.
Superior Municipal Boundary and Extraterritorial
Jurisdiction
Existing Land Use
The existing land use (ELU) map provides a visual representation of
how land in Superior is being used. It is a snapshot of the current
state of the city’s existing land use patterns and helps with the
decision-making processes related to land development, zoning
regulation, and infrastructure funding.
Map 2.2: Superior Existing Land Use categorizes
different areas – typically parcels of land – based on their primary
uses today. This map serves as a baseline for inventorying
characteristics of Superior that the community hopes to maintain, as
well as what the community hopes to change in the next decade. It
assists with identifying areas of change or potential growth, as well as
with making informed decisions about future development and zoning
regulations.